Neuro-Balance Therapy Review: What It Is, What It Costs and Where to Buy It

The promise: fall-proof in 10 seconds

The sales page opens with the story of an older woman who falls behind her house at night and cannot get up in the cold. It then says the real cause of trips and falls is not age but a “sleeping nerve” in the foot, the deep peroneal nerve, which it blames for “over 97%” of falls in people over 60. Rolling a spiky ball under the foot for 10 seconds is said to wake the nerve and make your body “fall-proof within minutes”.

The idea is credited to a Harvard evolutionary biologist who studied barefoot walkers in Kenya. The page also says that fear of falling dropped by over 92% among about 100 people, that 112,000 people bought the program in four months, and that the physical therapy industry would like it taken down. None of these figures can be checked.

Illustrations by Health and Wellness Studies. The DVD case and ball in our cover image are drawings, not the real product.

What is in the package

The DVDs and ball come by post, which the seller says takes 3 to 10 business days, and you can start with the online videos and the manual immediately. The exercises themselves are not shown on the sales page before you buy.

The foot-nerve story, checked

• What the nerve does: the deep peroneal nerve runs down the front of the shin and works the muscles that lift the foot and toes, and it gives feeling to the skin between the first two toes. Lifting the foot matters for clearing the ground when you walk.
• The 97% figure: no source is given, and none of the page’s references supports it. Falls in older people usually have several causes at once, such as weak legs, poor balance, some medicines, eyesight problems, dizziness and hazards at home.
• The Harvard study: published in Nature in 2019, it found that thick calluses on the feet of people who often walk barefoot, in Kenya and the US, protect the foot without dulling its sense of touch, unlike cushioned shoes. It did not study falls, older people, this nerve or massage balls.
• Stimulating the sole of the foot: studies of textured or vibrating insoles and of electrical stimulation are small and give mixed results. None shows that a few seconds of massage prevents falls.

What prevents falls, at a glance

Balance exercise: the part that works

The sales page warns that overusing balance exercises and stability balls can make you more likely to fall. The research points the other way: in the 2019 Cochrane review of 108 trials, balance and functional exercises, practised standing, such as weight shifts, stepping and rising from a chair, cut the rate of falls by about a quarter, with high-certainty evidence. What matters is starting at a level that is safe for you and progressing gradually, which the program’s three levels allow.

Start with a falls check

The sales page says its routine has nothing to do with seeing a doctor or a physical therapist. We suggest the opposite: if you have fallen, feel unsteady or are afraid of falling, tell your doctor. A falls check can find causes that exercise alone will not fix:

• Medicines that cause dizziness or drowsiness, especially several together.
• Blood pressure that drops when you stand up.
• Eyesight, feet and footwear, including numbness from nerve damage.
• Bone health, to lower the risk of a fracture if you do fall.

Sudden unsteadiness, new numbness or dizzy spells need prompt medical advice. A physical therapist can then tailor exercises to you; in the US, Medicare Part B covers outpatient physical therapy when it is medically necessary.

Exercising safely at home

Free and low-cost ways to train balance

Exercise that prevents falls does not have to cost anything. Many community centres run strength-and-balance or tai chi classes for older adults, and the Otago exercise programme, developed in New Zealand for older people, is widely available free of charge. If you prefer a guided routine at home on screen, a program like this one is one option among many.

What you pay

The price is $47 plus shipping and handling, a one-time payment with no subscription; the shipping charge appears at checkout. The sales page shows crossed-out prices of $226, $197 and $97, which nobody pays. The seller tells affiliates that the average order is $106, more than twice the $47 price, so expect further offers after checkout; you can decline them.

Who is behind it

• The seller: Critical Bench, Inc., 15373 Roosevelt Blvd, Suite 203, Clearwater, Florida, phone 1-727-351-3065, with a help centre at criticalbenchhelp.zendesk.com.
• The presenter: Chris Wilson, described as a certified balance specialist, who says he is not a doctor. The page does not say which body certified him.
• The sales page: a video; a text version is at theneurobalancetherapy.org/transcript.
• Where else: the seller says it is not sold in shops or on Amazon, so a copy from a marketplace or a file-sharing site is not covered by the refund.

Is it worth $47?

If you want a guided balance routine on screen and will keep it up, $47 plus shipping is a reasonable price for a structured program, and exercise of this kind is well supported. Be clear about what you are buying, though: the program has never been tested, and the spiky-ball story is the least supported part. Our full Neuro-Balance Therapy review scores it 3.0 out of 5.

How the 60-day refund works

1. Post the DVD back at your own cost to the seller’s shipping company in McHenry, Illinois, so that it arrives within 60 days. Keep the tracking number.
2. Request the refund through ClickBank’s order support at clkbank.com, choosing Refund Request.
3. Shipping is not refunded: you get the purchase price back, not the original shipping and handling.

The sales page promises a refund “no questions asked”, but the written policy above is what applies. It counts the 60 days from delivery in one place and from purchase in another, so go by the purchase date.